The Tale of the KunLun Slave
by Matrix Refugee
Summary: Post Kyoto Arc: While Tsuzuki recuperates, Tatsumi tells him a fairy tale, which may well have come true...


Title: "The Tale of the Kun-Lun Slave, or the Prince in the Basement"

Author: "Matrix Refugee"

Rating: PG-13 (mild slash)

Pairing: hints of Tatsumi/Tsuzuki, Tatsumi/Hisoka and Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Genre: UST, mild hurt-comfort

Comments: Written for InsaneJournal's "porn_battle", specifically their prompt _"Yami no Matsuei, Tatsumi/Tsuzuki, the fairy tale comes true"_, but it ended up being more unrequited love than anything else. POTENTIAL SPOILERS for the climax of the Kyoto arc. Special thanks goes to the folks at LiveJournal's "little_details" for suggesting the Chinese fairy tale that inspired it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yami no Matsuei, aka Descendants of Darkness, it s characters, concepts and other indicia, which are the intellectual property of Yoko Matsushita, Hiroko Tokita, Manga Entertainment, Viz Media, Hakusensha, Central Park Media, et al.

* * *

_Tatsumi speaks..._

Have you heard the tale of the Kun-lun Slave? No? Then I'll tell it to you...

I first heard the story from my mother, when my sister and I were young and we were both recovering from scarlet fever; it's an old Chinese story from the Tang Dynasty era, but it's the kind of fairy tale one can almost see coming true. Somehow the tale came back to me and was ringing in my heart and mind that fateful night when Watari and I saved you and Hisoka. A young maiden had been snatched away from Cui, her beloved, and forced into the harem of a corrupt official. All but despairing, Cui enlisted the aide of Mo-le, his dark-skinned slave, to rescue the girl. They found their way blocked by guard dogs and ten thick, high walls. Mo-le fought the dogs and slew them with his dagger. Then he carried Cui on his back as he bounded from the top of one wall to the next and from rooftop to rooftop, till they found the women's quarters. When they found the girl, Mo-le took both the lovers onto his back and bounded back over the walls, the palace guards close at his heels. But he evaded them and carried the lovers to safety.

I think it's obvious who was Cui and who was the Kun-Lun slave, though the roles were tossed back and forth. Hisoka was tired from fighting Oriya, the guard dog whom Muraki had set in our path, and he was all but despairing of you when we finally tracked you down to the hidden laboratory beneath the university. I admit, I was willing to let you succumb to Touda's flames and let you have the release that you desired. But I think it was obvious who served as Mo-le in the end. My shadows were the duskiness that allowed me to hide, keeping the worst of the heat from touching me as I descended into the laboratory, and I took you into the embrace of the shade, spiriting the both of you away even as the building was engulfed in flames above us. For once, the fairy tale came true and even had a happy ending...

Are you tired? Rest now, you still need to heal...

While Tsuzuki sleeps...

I said it was obvious who was Cui and who was Mo-le, but I held back some of the truth. The fact is, Tsuzuki, Mo-le did what he did because he too loved the maiden, though he cared too much for Cui to do anything but save both his master and the girl he could never have. He cared too much to separate the lovers, even though he knew his heart's desires would go unfulfilled. Love does not always mean getting what gratifies one's own desires, but often it means gratifying the desires of another whom one cares for too much. Hisoka cared for you too much to let you die in the flames, and I cared too much for Hisoka to see him alone in the world without you, after he had found someone to whom he could open up the folded mimosa leaves that are his heart. I realized I couldn't lose the maiden in the tower or in this case, the prince in the basement, nor allow him to be lost. My arms will never enfold either you in the way in which one small portion of my heart would desire, but my shadows embraced both you and Hisoka that night. That will suffice, as will seeing you smile on Hisoka, even when pretends he doesn't care if you do or not. Smile on him when you wake up and find him at your bedside. Smile on him for his own sake, for yourself and for me...


End file.
